News & Commentary

From all over California, people in need of abortion care travel for hours leaving behind children, partners, and dependent parents. Abortion still remains one of the safest and most sought-out medical procedures.

If there is a common theme running through the hundreds of bills restricting access to abortion passed throughout the country, it’s that women cannot be trusted to decide whether to have a baby.
But California, happily, recognizes that women are fully capable of making moral decisions about pregnancy.

This Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission will decide an important issue - whether to initiate a rulemaking to update privacy protections for the modern smartphone age. Join the ACLU of California and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and ask them to stand up for your cell phone privacy.

Nine years ago, as a result of an ACLU lawsuit, California promised $800 million help address school facility conditions that pose urgent threats to students' health and safety. The state has failed to honor that commitment. But on Friday, the governor proposed $188.1 million for the Emergency Repair Program in his budget.

Sheriff Lee Baca stunned the public this week by announcing that he will immediately retire as the head of Los Angeles County jails. His announcement marks another milestone in the ACLU's campaign to end the culture of rampant deputy-on-prisoner violence that has plagued the Los Angeles County jails for years.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday unveiled his proposed budget for 2014-2015, a budget that contains some elements that would actually move California in the direction of criminal justice reform that remains so urgently needed.

Are you giving - or, better yet, hoping to get - a new Xbox One this holiday season? With the recent news that the NSA is spying on gaming networks, we put together some important privacy information and tips to help you better protect yourself.

Audley Barrington Lyon, Jr. is currently in immigration detention while he fights deportation to Jamaica. A “U visa” is a beacon of hope for Mr. Lyon, who was an innocent bystander when he was seriously injured in shooting. A U visa—available to crime victims who cooperate with criminal investigations—would give him the opportunity to stay in the country with his U.S. citizen wife. Unfortunately, he doesn’t stand a fighting chance.

On Thursday, December 19th President Obama commuted the sentences of eight people who have been imprisoned more than 15 years on crack-cocaine charges, a move in line with his administration's attempts to ease some of the harsher drug-sentencing decisions of the past two decades.